Led by City
Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan, Cincinnati officials recently expanded the
mobile food vending program by creating new zones near Fountain Square.
So far at least two vendors — Tim Hurst of Vinnie’s Gourmet
Pretzels and Tom Acito of Café de Wheels — have said they will use the
zones, and more are sure to follow.

CityBeat’s endorsements for Cincinnati City Council

Some powerful special interest groups know
a secret that the average Cincinnati voter doesn’t: If you want to make
your votes for City Council truly matter and have the greatest impact,
don’t use all nine of them. That’s right: Even though you can cast nine
votes in the council race, you really shouldn’t.

Meetings will review how police spends its budget

An area civic group will launch a series of public meetings this week to examine the city of Cincinnati’s ever-growing Police Department budget and help residents make informed decisions about whether some cuts can be made. When the process is complete, the group will present its findings in a formal brief to the city manager’s office and City Council this fall.

Last week's extended soap opera at City Hall about how to fill a $54.7 million deficit in the budget ended anti-climatically, with differing City Council factions temporarily solving the dilemma by resorting to the same sort of tricks they did last year — instead of showing leadership or political courage, the mayor and nine elected council members decided to use $27 million in one-time sources of cash to patch over the immediate problem and approve studies into possible changes that could yield the rest of the savings.

Mayor Mallory didn't do it. Vice Mayor Qualls didn't do it. It finally was left up to the ex-TV news reporter-turned-city councilwoman — a first-termer — to present hard, cold facts and figures about staffing levels in the Police and Fire departments.

Local journalists discuss environmental coverage

Like any field, environmentalism has its own jargon that's easily understood by advocates but can be incomprehensible to the average person. That dichotomy can be a major challenge for newspapers, television programs, radio stations and Web sites that want to broaden the public's knowledge about green issues. The topic was discussed among five panelists (including myself) who took part in a media roundtable Oct. 16 on coverage of the environmental movement and related issues.

Here's another example of why many people are leery of Christians and their bellyaching about their faith being abused. Even though U.S. military rules prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Afghanistan or Iraq, it was revealed this week that a military contractor has been printing references to Bible verses on rifle scopes used by soldiers in those wars.

City Council challengers say change is crucial for Cincinnati

With Cincinnati facing a potential $51 million deficit in 2010 due to stagnant tax revenues and a City Council narrowly divided by one vote on most major issues, the outcome of this fall's election could have a huge impact on the city's future. Of the current nine members of City Council, only one isn't seeking reelection because of term limits. If history is any indication, the incumbents are all likely to succeed, yet this might be the year when some challengers crack through and displace a few.